SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for FBI Season 9, Episode 3.
FBI Season 9, Episode 3, “White Rock” ends the Anna Vorpe storyline just in time. The CBS show can’t keep the undercover plot going that much longer, not if it wants to clear space for new stories and bring OA Zidan in from the cold. But what makes this final chapter interesting isn’t the plot twists, but how the episode handles them.
As Episode 2 indicated, the team gets to Anna through her high-powered contact. OA plants the bug Ian provided him, then intentionally blows up a truck so that Anna’s contact calls her. It’s an easy leap for the home team to deduce that Anna’s leverage on her backer is the death of a 16-year-old girl in a small town. Expose the murder, and they expose Anna, but not before the obligatory multiple reminders that everyone could lose their jobs.
FBI could have gotten another whole episode out of that part alone. On another crime show, the writers would’ve dragged out the tension between characters, whether it’s Jubal Valentine and Isobel Castille, or Maggie Bell having to keep ADIC Green’s nephew off her back, or ADIC Green finding out and confronting Isobel. Half the team could’ve spent this whole hour sniping at each other for keeping secrets and breaking rules—and that almost entirely doesn’t happen. All of the characters react in a calm and level-headed way, making this episode much more pleasurable to watch, because it feels more genuine.
Instead of driving a wedge between Isobel and Jubal over her decision to exclude him, Jubal actually apologizes to Isobel for following her. Maggie suspects Isaiah informed on her to his uncle, but he didn’t. And ADIC Green does tell Isobel how much trouble she’s in for running an unsanctioned mission—but only to make sure she knows the score before offering his support. The characterization of the latter two is particularly refreshing. Jubal’s reaction makes more sense; he’s always been supportive of Isobel and he’s generally a chill guy. But Isaiah could’ve absolutely been written as a mole, especially since this was likely his last episode. And ADIC Green could have just come in and delivered the same blustery threats that so many bureaucrats do in procedurals. Instead, both are written like human beings, not human speed bumps for the main characters to get over.
It’s obviously cut for time, but the bulk of the conversation between Isobel and ADIC Green takes place off-screen, and it would’ve been lovely to see that play out more. It’s one of those scenes that is not necessary to the plot and therefore not an efficient use of screen time, but it would’ve been a good conversation between two leaders and probably added more depth to the characterization of ADIC Green. Yet the fact that viewers want to see an administrative conversation is an example of how well-written the core characters in FBI are. That these moments have some meaning, and aren’t just throwaway arguments.
Anyone who’s watched a TV crime drama will be able to guess the fourth act’s big moments well before they happen. From the moment that Isobel realizes Carver didn’t order his son’s murder, it’s ridiculously easy to deduce that it was Carver, not his son, who was in the car with Tiara. And that, in turn, is a pretty tired storyline: powerful politician caught in a compromising position, doing everything he can to cover it up. It’s also not hard to see how FBI sets up Anna’s sidekick Devon as the anti-OA, and that there’s going to be a scene where OA’s moral resolve is tested. There are no big revelations in “White Rock.”
The episode ultimately comes down, as it should, to Zeeko Zaki’s performance as OA Zidan. Closing the case itself is a team effort (which includes Jubal and Isobel interviewing said politician, played by Terry Serpico, who returns to the Wolf Entertainment universe after his recurring role as Chief Tommy McGrath in Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime). But it’s also not a shocker that OA is eventually found out, and Zaki is once again on point. Whether it’s the tense conversation he has with Anna, or his scrappy final fight with Devon, or even just the look on his face as Jubal lets him be the one to slap the handcuffs on Anna, Zaki is able to play so many different things across this one episode.
The scene of OA being officially sworn back into the FBI is beautiful in how simple yet meaningful it is, and “White Rock” ends exactly where it should: with a moment between reunited partners OA and Maggie. That, too, is a segment that deserves to be longer given how much time they spent apart and how much they mean to each other. There’s a lot more to say than those final minutes allow. But just seeing them back together again isn’t just peace for them; it’s peace for the audience, too, because Maggie has her partner back and OA is back with people he trusts. He’s safe now—not in the sense that he needs protecting, but emotionally safe and finally getting a chance to breathe.
And that is example number one of how the payoff of the Anna Vorpe storyline is a purely emotional one. This episode reconfirms that the characters in FBI stand for something. As OA himself says, “It matters how we do things, or nothing matters.” There’s an idealism in this show that helps separate it from other crime procedurals—not in the sense of naivete or rose-colored glasses, but that it’s about more than the good guys winning. It’s also about who they are. In that sense, “White Rock” is a win, as not only is Anna Vorpe taken down, but FBI stays true to who its characters are. Hopefully, it doesn’t now belabor OA’s angst and send him down a dark path he doesn’t deserve to be on. But other than that, this is a good, solid way to end this storyline and look toward whatever new stories Season 9 has to offer. It’s not about high drama or hugely shocking plot twists; it’s about what makes FBI worth watching.
FBI airs Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS.
